United States Patent Application |
20070103454
|
Kind Code
|
A1
|
Elias; John G.
|
May 10, 2007
|
Back-Side Interface for Hand-Held Devices
Abstract
An electronic device uses separate surfaces for input and output. One of
the surfaces (e.g., the bottom) includes a force-sensitive touch-surface
through which a user provides input (e.g., cursor manipulation and
control element selection). On a second surface (e.g., the top), a
display element is used to present information appropriate to the
device's function (e.g., video information), one or more control elements
and a cursor. The cursor is controlled through manipulation of the
back-side touch-surface. The cursor identifies where on the back-side
touch-surface the user's finger has made contact. When the cursor is
positioned over the desired control element, the user selects or
activates the function associated with the control element by applying
pressure to the force-sensitive touch-surface with their finger.
Accordingly, the electronic device may be operated with a single hand,
wherein cursor movement and control element selection may be accomplished
without lifting one's finger.
Inventors: |
Elias; John G.; (Townsend, DE)
|
Correspondence Name and Address:
|
WONG, CABELLO, LUTSCH, RUTHERFORD & BRUCCULERI LLP
20333 SH 249
SUITE 600
HOUSTON
TX
77070
US
|
Assignee Name and Adress: |
Apple Computer, Inc.
Cupertino
CA
|
Serial No.:
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620424 |
Series Code:
|
11
|
Filed:
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January 5, 2007 |
U.S. Current Class: |
345/173 |
U.S. Class at Publication: |
345/173 |
Intern'l Class: |
G09G 5/00 20060101 G09G005/00 |
Claims
1. A method for operating a hand-held electronic device, comprising:
displaying first information on a display element on a first surface of a
hand-held electronic device; displaying control elements and a cursor on
the display element when the electronic device is in a specified state;
adjusting a display position of the cursor in response to a contact on a
force-sensitive touch-surface on a second surface of the electronic
device, the second surface being a different surface than the first
surface; and activating a function associated with a first displayed
control element when the cursor is positioned coincident with the first
displayed control element and an activation force is applied to the
force-sensitive touch-surface at a position corresponding to the cursor.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of displaying control elements
comprises displaying one or more control elements selected from the list
consisting of a button, a slider, a spin-wheel, a numeric input key, an
alpha input key and an alpha-numeric input key.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of displaying control elements
comprises displaying translucent control elements.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the act of displaying translucent
control elements is performed so that the first information remains at
least partially visible through the control elements.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of displaying control elements
comprises displaying opaque control elements.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of displaying control elements
further comprises displaying one or more menu items, wherein the one or
more menu items identify at least one operation.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of displaying a cursor comprises
displaying a translucent cursor.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of activating is performed
continuously with the act of adjusting so that the contact does not leave
the surface of the force-sensitive touch-surface.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified state is associated with
an operational mode of the hand-held electronic device.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the operational mode comprises a
telephone mode.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein the operational mode comprises a
alpha-numeric data entry mode.
12. The method of claim 9, wherein the operational mode comprises a
character-based input mode.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of adjusting comprises tracking
the contact as it moves about the force-sensitive touch-surface.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein the hand-held electronic device
comprises a mobile telephone.
15. The method of claim 1, wherein the hand-held electronic device
comprises a hand-held computer system.
16. The method of claim 1, wherein the hand-held electronic device
comprises a personal digital assistant.
17. The method of claim 1, wherein the hand-held electronic device
comprises a video display unit.
18. The method of claim 1, wherein the hand-held electronic device
comprises a digital music device.
19. A program storage device, readable by a processor, comprising
instructions stored thereon for causing the programmable control device
to perform the method in accordance with claim 1.
20. A hand-held electronic device, comprising: a first surface having a
display element coupled thereto; a second surface having a touch-surface
coupled thereto, the second surface not coplanar with the first surface,
the touch-surface adapted to detect a location on the touch-surface
contacted by an object and an activation force applied to the
touch-surface by the object; and control means for--displaying on the
display element first information, control elements, and mark
representing the contact's location on the touch-surface, determining
when the mark is spatially coincident with one of the control elements,
determining the activation force is greater than a specified threshold,
and activating a function associated with the one control element.
21. The hand-held electronic device of claim 20, wherein the device
comprises a mobile telephone.
22. The hand-held electronic device of claim 20, wherein the device
comprises a video playback device.
23. The hand-held electronic device of claim 20, wherein the device
comprises an audio playback device.
24. The hand-held electronic device of claim 20, wherein the device
comprises a personal digital assistant.
25. The hand-held electronic device of claim 20, wherein the first
information comprises one or more of the following types of information:
video, graphic and textual.
26. The hand-held electronic device of claim 25, wherein the first
information is displayed opaque.
27. The hand-held electronic device of claim 20, wherein the control
elements comprise one or more of a button, a numeric key, an alpha key, a
slider, a click-wheel and a menu.
28. The hand-held electronic device of claim 20, wherein one or more of
the control elements are transparent.
29. The hand-held electronic device of claim 20, further comprising one or
more physical buttons coupled to a surface of the device.
30. The hand-held electronic device of claim 29, wherein one of the one or
more physical buttons comprises a power button adapted to turn-off the
display element.
31. The hand-held electronic device of claim 20, wherein the means for
displaying is activated after a contact to the second surface has been
made and held substantially in one place for a specified period of time.
32. The hand-held electronic device of claim 20, further comprising at
least one etched button on the second surface, the at least one etched
button corresponding to a displayed control element.
Description
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 11/115,539 entitled "Hand Held Electronic Device with Multiple Touch
Sensing Devices" by Duncan Robert Kerr, Steve Hotelling and Brian Huppi
(filed 26 Apr. 2005). The subject matter claimed herein is also related
to subject matter described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.
11/278,080 entitled "Force Imaging Input Device and System" by Steve
Hotelling and Brian Huppi (filed 30 Mar. 2006), Ser. No. 11/382,402
entitled "Force and Location Sensitive Display" by Steve Hotelling (filed
9 May 2006) and 10/840,862 entitled "Multipoint Touchscreen" by Steve
Hotelling and Brian Huppi (filed 6 May 2004) and, all of which are hereby
incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND
[0002] The invention relates generally to user input for computer systems
and more particularly to a touch and force-sensitive back-side interface
for hand-held electronic devices (e.g., hand-held electronic and computer
platforms).
[0003] An increasingly popular form of electronic device is the hand-held
multi-media device. Illustrative devices of this type include palm or
hand-held personal computers, tablet computer systems, mobile telephones,
personal digital assistants, portable video players and portable audio
players. One specific example of such a device is the video iPod.RTM.
from Apple Computer. (IPOD is a registered trademark of Apple Computer,
Inc.) In this class of device the display screen, typically a liquid
crystal display ("LCD"), is often to small to make effective use of
finger based touch input. Although a touch-screen interface could be
embedded in or overlaid on the display, the use of even a single finger
for input may occlude a significant portion of the display or cover more
than a single operational control element. While this problem could be
mitigated by limiting the touch area to a portion of the display screen
(e.g., the display edges where horizontal or vertical motion could
emulate slider controls), a single finger could still cover a substantial
amount of the useful display area. In addition, display smudging is a
problem as with all finger sensitive touch-screen interfaces. While
stylus based touch-screens may be used to partially reduce the occluding
problem and eliminate smudging, they suffer a large disadvantage compared
to finger based touch-screen systems in that they require the storage and
removal of a stylus. In addition, for small hand-held devices a stylus
input requires the use of two hands: one to hold the device and one to
hold and manipulate the stylus.
SUMMARY
[0004] In one embodiment the invention provides a method to operate an
electronic device. The method includes displaying first information
appropriate to the device's function on a display element on a top
surface of the electronic device (e.g., video, graphic or textual
information), displaying one or more control elements and a cursor on the
display element (e.g., numeric or alphanumeric keys, buttons, sliders and
control wheels), adjusting the cursor's displayed position in response to
an object contacting a force-sensitive touch-surface on the device's
bottom surface, and activating or executing a function associated with
one of the control elements when the cursor is positioned "over" the
control element and a force is applied to the force-sensitive
touch-surface at a position corresponding to the cursor. In a preferred
embodiment, the control elements are displayed transparently so that the
first information is not totally occluded by the display of the control
elements. A program implementing the method may be stored in any media
that is readable and executable by a computer processor.
[0005] In another embodiment, the invention provides an electronic device
that may be operated in accordance with the described method.
Illustrative electronic devices of the type described and taught herein
include, but are not limited to, hand-held computer systems, tablet
computer systems, personal digital assistants, portable video playback
system, portable audio playback systems and mobile telephones.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a prior art hand-held
multi-media device.
[0007] FIG. 2 shows, in cross-section, a hand-held multi-media device in
accordance with one embodiment of the invention.
[0008] FIGS. 3A and 3B show one embodiment of a multi-media hand-held
device in accordance with the invention.
[0009] FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of a multi-media hand-held device
in accordance with the invention wherein alpha-numeric input control
elements are provided.
[0010] FIG. 5 shows yet another embodiment of a multi-media hand-held
device in accordance with the invention wherein alpha-only input control
elements are provided.
[0011] FIG. 6 shows, in block diagram format, an electronic device in
accordance with one embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0012] The following description is presented to enable any person skilled
in the art to make and use the invention as claimed and is provided in
the context of the particular examples discussed below, variations of
which will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly,
the claims appended hereto are not intended to be limited by the
disclosed embodiments, but are to be accorded their widest scope
consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.
[0013] Small multi-media hand-held devices such as mobile telephones and
video playback units typically divide their front surface into an output
region (through which video or graphic information is presented) and an
input region (comprising one or more control elements through which a
user operates the device). An illustrative prior art device that is laid
out in this manner is the iPod.RTM. from Apple Computer, Inc. As shown in
FIG. 1, the output region of iPod.RTM. 100 comprises LCD 105 and the
input region comprises a single multi-function control element--spin or
click-wheel 110.
[0014] In contrast, a multi-media device in accordance with the invention
uses separate device surfaces for input and output. More specifically, a
force-sensitive touch-surface is provided on a first or back-side surface
of the device through which a user provides input (e.g., cursor
manipulation and control element selection/activation). On a second or
front-side surface, a display element is used to present one or more
control elements and a cursor that is controlled through manipulation of
the back-side touch-surface. When the device is activated or placed into
an operational state where it is appropriate, control elements (e.g.,
soft keys and menus) are displayed on the display element. The soft keys
may be opaque or transparent (so as not to occlude prior displayed
information such as a video presentation, a picture, a graphic or textual
information). The displayed cursor identifies where on the back-side
touch-surface the user has their finger. When the cursor is positioned
over the desired control element/soft key (i.e., spatially overlapping on
the display element), the user selects or activates the control element
by applying pressure to the force-sensitive touch-surface with their
finger. Accordingly, the invention provides a means to operate a
hand-held electronic device with one hand, wherein cursor movement and
control element selection/activation may be accomplished without lifting
one's finger.
[0015] Referring to FIG. 2, a cross-sectional view of multi-media
hand-held device 200 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention
includes device housing 205, top surface 210 having display element 215
and bottom surface 220 having force-sensitive touch-surface 225. As used
herein, a force-sensitive touch-surface is a surface that is adapted to
simultaneously detect where one or more objects touch it (e.g., fingers)
and the force those objects apply to the surface. Illustrative
embodiments of force-sensitive capacitance-based touch-surfaces are
described in the documents identified in paragraph [0001] above.
Illustrative display elements include LCD panels.
[0016] Referring to FIG. 3A, hand-held multi-media device 300 in
accordance with one embodiment of the invention incorporates the
functionality of click-wheel 305 on the device's force-sensitive
touch-surface 225 (on bottom surface 220). Click-wheel 305 may be
represented on touch-surface 225 by, for example, an etched or raised
outline. Referring to FIG. 3B, when the user activates click-wheel 305,
navigation menu 310 and click-wheel 315 are shown. Also displayed is
cursor 320 which shows the position of the user's finger against the
back-side touch-surface relative to click-wheel 315. In the illustrated
embodiment, navigation menu 310 and click-wheel 315 are rendered
transparently (denoted by dashed lines in FIG. 3B) so that the user may
continue to view whatever information was being displayed at the time
they activated the back-side control. Once the user manipulates cursor
320 by sliding their finger across force-sensitive touch-surface 225 to
the desired position (e.g., the "pause" control element position on
click-wheel 315), all the user need do is apply pressure with that finger
to the force-sensitive touch-surface to activate the desired action.
Thus, a user may move the displayed cursor and make a selection (aka a
"mouse-click") without lifting their finger from surface 225. In this
manner multi-media device 300 may be controlled by the user with a single
hand.
[0017] In another embodiment, a multi-media hand-held device such as
device 300 may provide more than a single control element. In embodiments
of this type, each control element (e.g., button, key, slider or
click-wheel) may have an etched counterpart on back-side touch-surface
225, with each being displayed as desired (one at a time depending upon
where the user's finger is detected, or all at once). In yet another
embodiment, control element outlines are not etched or otherwise denoted
on back-side touch-surface 225.
[0018] While the interface of FIGS. 3A and 3B may be effective for
selecting items from a list, it is not as convenient for alphanumeric
input. Accordingly, in another embodiment of the invention one or more
control elements may be displayed when the device's back-side
force-sensitive touch-surface is activated (see discussion below).
Referring to FIG. 4, in one embodiment suitable for a device that
incorporates mobile telephone capability, device 400 displays numeric
soft keys 405 on display screen 215 situated on front surface 210. The
user may select or activate one or more of the displayed buttons by
moving their finger(s) across back-side force-sensitive touch-surface 225
so as to position cursor 410 above (i.e., spatially coincident with) the
desired button. Selection may be made by applying pressure to the back
side of the device as discussed above. For the user's convenience,
previously selected numbers 415 may be displayed.
[0019] Referring to FIG. 5, in yet another embodiment in accordance with
the invention, device 500 displays alpha soft keys 505 on display element
215 on front surface 210. By selecting various keys 505, the user may
enter character strings (e.g., string 510). As before, the user positions
cursor 515 through movement of their fingers across the device's
back-side force-sensitive touch-surface; button selection is made through
the application of pressure to the back-side touch-surface. As shown,
device 500 displays alpha buttons 505 transparently so that the user may
continue to view information that may be displayed "beneath" them. Of
course, buttons 505 may be opaque.
[0020] In still another embodiment, a multi-media hand-held device having
a back-side force-sensitive touch-surface may utilize two or more of the
interfaces described above. For example, in a first mode (e.g., a music
playback mode), the click-wheel interface described above with respect to
FIGS. 3A and 3B could be employed (with or without backside surface
etching). In another mode (e.g., a telephone mode), the interface
described above with respect to FIG. 4 could be implemented. In still
another mode (e.g., text input, electronic mail or instant messaging
modes) the alpha interface described in connection with FIG. 5 may be
used. Other interfaces will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the
art having the benefit of this disclosure.
[0021] In some embodiments, the display of control elements and/or a menu
may be triggered by a specific user action. For example, by the user
holding their finger on back-side touch-surface 225 within the region
defined by an etched control element (e.g., click-wheel 305) for a
specified period of time (e.g., one second). Another user action to
trigger activation of a mode-appropriate user interface would be to
simply hold one or more fingers against the back-side force-sensitive
touch-surface for a specified period of time and with at least a minimum
specified force (e.g., a "light" grip or poke).
[0022] Alternatively, a change in device 200's operational state may cause
the same result. For instance, appropriate control element or menu may be
displayed when device 200 transitions from a first state to a second
state. Illustrative operational states include, but are not limited
to--on, off, locked, phone mode, video play mode, audio play mode,
calendar mode, email mode, address book mode and image capture mode.
Thus, a single user action may have cause different control elements to
be displayed (or no control elements at all), depending on the device's
current operational state.
[0023] Referring to FIG. 6, an illustrative implementation of hand-held
multi-media device 200 includes force-sensitive touch-surface controller
600, processor 605, memory 610 and display element controller 615.
Controller 600 provides the necessary drive and sensing circuitry to
obtain location and force information from force-sensitive touch-surface
225. In a typical implementation, touch-surface 225 is comprised of a
number of sensing elements arranged in two-dimensional array. Each
sensing element (aka "pixel") generates an output signal indicative of
the electric field disturbance (for capacitance sensors), force (for
pressure sensors) or optical coupling (for optical sensors) at the sensor
element. The ensemble of pixel values at a given time represents a
"proximity image." Touch-surface controller 600 provides this data to
processor 605 or to memory 610. Processor 605, in turn, processes the
proximity image information to correlate the user's finger movement
across touch-surface 225 with the displayed information. Memory 610 may
include one or more of the following types of storage media: magnetic
disks; optical media; and semiconductor memory devices such as static and
dynamic random access memory (RAM), Electrically Programmable Read-Only
Memory ("EPROM"), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
("EEPROM"), Programmable Gate Arrays and flash devices. Display
controller 615 is responsible for producing the display element signals
necessary to actually display information.
[0024] Various changes in the materials, components, circuit elements
techniques described herein are possible without departing from the scope
of the following claims. For instance, illustrative multi-media hand-held
device 300 has been described as including an etched control element on
its back-side touch-surface. This is not necessary. Further, multimedia
devices in accordance with the invention may include physical
buttons/switches in addition to a force-sensitive touch-surface (e.g.,
power, mute and reset buttons). In addition, processor 605 may be a
single computer processor, a special purpose processor (e.g., a digital
signal processor or "DSP"), a plurality of processors coupled by a
communications link or a custom designed state machine. Custom designed
state machines may be embodied in a hardware device such as an integrated
circuit including, but not limited to, application specific integrated
circuits ("ASICs") or field programmable gate array ("FPGAs"). Processor
605 may also execute program instructions stored in memory 610 to perform
the acts described herein.
* * * * *